Work Ethic
by akihiko-senpai
Summary: Angela embodies everything Gill hates: laziness, irresponsibility, and an overall lack of interest in the profit loss of her idle actions. He decides to motivate her to take some action by offering her a job at the Town Hall, but she manages to motivate him as well.


_**Disclaimer**__: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it._

_**Author's Note**__: I'm planning stories for every bachelor from ToT, and because this was the shortest one, I had a burst of inspiration and put it together haha. I've never been a huge Gill fan, but I do like him a lot. I like every ToT bachelor a lot! Hahah. This is also the first story I've ever written about Gill, so I hope you guys enjoy it. Thanks for reading!_

* * *

If there was one thing in the world that Gill hated most of all, it was laziness. Laziness and everything it encompassed: idleness, immaturity, irresponsibility – you name it, Gill hated it. He had a respect for one thing alone: work ethic. Work ethic and everything it encompassed: profit, productivity, efficiency, and an overall intrigue in the hopeful prospects of the future. If you lacked work ethic, you did not care about the outcome of your absence of work ethic. Therefore, Gill did not care about you.

If there was one person in the world that Gill felt represented everything he hated, it was Angela.

During the first spring of Angela's time on Waffle Island, she tried her hand at being a farmer – tried being an understatement. When it came time to plant crops, she planted _a _crop – and lots of it. Everyone in town was absolutely sick of turnips and full of excitement for the change summer could bring only to be horrified at an onslaught of onions. She also put forth _some _effort when it came to turning that farm into a ranch – she bought _a _cow. One cow that she treated like a child, bathing it so much it was a wonder it didn't get sick, overfeeding it, and then exercising it by taking it for a long, leisurely walk through town, led by a purple _leash_. Gill bit his tongue throughout the first three seasons of her move, but when winter rolled around and he saw that the absence of that field of one crop only freed extra free time for cow walking, he knew he had to do _something_.

"Work at the Town Hall with you?" Angela asked, shifting Blue's leash from her left hand to her right. "A-are you sure?"

"Do you have anything better to do?" Gill said. Blue turned and looked straight into his eyes with a look of distaste. Gill returned it and then decided to rephrase his answer. "It's a good way to make up for the loss of the profit your crops brought you, after all."

Angela paused to think about this. Gill imagined the opportunity cost thought process in her mind – more time at the Town Hall meant less time to walk Blue. Gill looked at the cow and the cow looked at Gill. No matter how much she walked it, it was still going to produce the same amount of milk each morning. What was the point of putting forth unnecessary effort into something that yielded no profit? He shook his head and sighed. Nothing Angela did made much sense.

"Okay, sure!" Angela told him. "I'll start tomorrow."

"Why not today?"

"Well, Blue's walks take a long time, so I probably wouldn't be able to make it over there until the Town Hall closed."

Gill paused and looked at his wristwatch. Only eleven o' clock. How long was she going to walk the thing? Blue huffed impatiently. "Fine," Gill replied, his voice curt and bored. "Don't be late tomorrow then."

"I won't!" Angela promised, her voice rising excitedly. "I'll do my best!"

"…Sure."

The next morning Angela arrived promptly at the moment the Town Hall opened – or perhaps she had been waiting there, because she was playing with a puppy outside when Gill arrived. "What are you doing?" he told her, sighing. How did she manage to _always _find a way to mess around?

"I see Pepper outside here every day, so I decided to pay attention to him – huh Pepper? You like attention, don't you?"

The dog wriggled happily on its back, exposing its stomach to be petted. Gill frowned at it. He much preferred cats, which did not thump their tails against the floor and bark when they were excited. The yipping coming from "Pepper" – which made no sense at all, considering the dog was pale white – was giving Gill a headache. "Hurry up and let's go inside," he snapped, extending his hand towards her.

Angela's cheeks reddened as she took his hand, but he ignored her. He did his best to ignore her the entire day, in fact. He watched as she accidentally knocked all of Elli's paperwork from her desk and gathered it together in the wrong order, he watched as she bit into a pen too hard and screamed at the gush of ink that spritzed her face, he watched as she struggled to reach a book on the top shelf and fell off the ladder, and he watched her even when she tripped going down the stairs and was caught by the wall. He ignored her when she looked at him and he ignored her when she was working quietly, but he watched her when she screwed up so he could shake his head and silently rein her back into obedience. Building a work ethic was easy when _you _were the one who wanted to put forth the effort, but forcing someone else to develop a work ethic was exhausting. Gill was relieved when he saw that there was only an hour left of work, and was tired all over again when he realized he'd have to do the same thing the next day.

Luna's arrival gave him new found hope. As bratty as Luna could get, and as much as her complaining dulled Gill's sense of hearing more and more with each whine, she had an earnest expression on her face at all times, and she had an unmistakable work ethic. He had to admit that, as much as he complained about her, he was quite thrilled to see her entering that room. He instantly called out to her and said, "What are you here for, Luna?"

"I need some new materials, so I wanted you to set up the paperwork for me," she told him. Her eyes darted to the staircase Angela was doing a poor job of buffing, and she said, "What are you doing here, Angela?"

"Working!" Angela called back, a smile on her face.

Luna smiled back at her. "Don't work _too_ hard."

Gill turned a nervous expression to the petite girl before him. _Don't tell her _that_, _he silently pleaded. That was the last thing Angela needed to hear. From her spot on the staircase Angela watched Gill watch Luna and frowned before calling out in her typical cheerful voice, "Okay!"

Gill was disappointed when Luna left, but at least it meant that it was time for Angela to return home, where she could wreak no havoc upon his workplace. "I'll walk you out," he told her, steadying her when she nearly tumbled down the staircase again. "And I'll pay you tomorrow."

Walking her out meant walking her home, apparently, for he found himself following her along the cobbled streets of Waffle Island towards her home just out of the town's reaches. Winter's grasp on them both was evident – their breaths came out like frost and their hands shook in their pockets. Angela turned to him and said, "You sure seemed happy when Luna came to visit."

Gill turned an embarrassed face in the other direction, though both of them knew the ocean was not nearly profitable enough to attract his attention. "Luna is an interesting person. She might not look it, but she's incredibly driven and focused on her work. It's something I admire greatly. She works hard and she does a good job of it."

"Is that why you don't like me?" Angela asked. "Because you don't think I work very hard?"

"I never said I _disliked _you," Gill mumbled, avoiding her eyes. "I'm sure you work hard…in your own way."

He stopped outside her house and observed the home through objective eyes. The well taken care of exterior, likely masking a meager interior – she didn't make enough to live extravagantly, after all – and frost covering everything else. She at least took good care of her fields in the downtime, for there was not a single tree stump or rock across its expanse. It wasn't a poorly put together home, but it was clearly the home of a person like her – enough effort to look approachable, but not enough effort to look attractive. Angela caught his eyes by leaning to the side and said, "I'll do my best then! I'll become a person who doesn't hinder you or your work. I'll be someone you can admire."

"Sure," Gill answered. That was his go-to word when he was dealing with Angela, and it always did an effective job of conveying that he was open to her dreams, but didn't expect anything to come from them. Angela smiled at him, thanked him, and retreated to the warmth of her home. Gill looked at her mailbox – the flap was still up, but the door was hanging open and it was empty. He sighed. Of course she didn't put forth the effort to close the door and put down the flap, so he did it for her. He was always doing things for her, even if she hadn't realized it.

Angela showed up on time the next day, but Gill did not need to tell her when it was time to go. The moment the clock chimed that it was time for work to end, she flew from the door, saying that she had something to take care of. When Elli had been kind enough to ask her what exactly it was one day, she revealed that she was working in the mines. Gill walked out of the Town Hall alone and watched her leave one day, recalling that it was a pity he had only walked her home on average winter day, and not a snowy day, like every day she worked at the mines during.

She moved through the Town Hall with purpose and efficiency. Gill couldn't help but smile as she neatly stacked paperwork, stamping each page perfectly in the upper right hand corner. Never slanted, never smudged. At first she brought tomato juice for them all to share in the hopes of impressing her coworkers, and then she stopped when she realized lunches could be used for other things. Instead of taking her lunch break to laugh with Elli and smile at Gill, she used it to tidy up her home, returning to Town Hall the moment her shift began again. Gill now spent his lunches without tomato juice and without laughter and without two eyes fixed on him that darted away when he returned the look.

"She's got four cows and four sheep to take care of now," Elli told Gill one day when they sat silently during lunch, waiting for her to return. "I haven't seen her walking Blue around in ages. I guess she's just too busy for that now."

"Hmm."

"She's expanding her field even more, too. And her home was recently expanded. She's making a lot of money working here and raising all those animals."

"Hmm."

Gill watched the quality of Angela's clothes gradually increase – from rags to riches in all aspects of her life. She showed up with warm sweaters and heavy pants, the only aspect of her once upon a time loud personality the striped hat she wore every day. She moved around like a ghost, gaunt and frail. Gill wondered when she ever made time to eat. Gill spent a lot of time wondering about her as the winter wore on.

"How are you feeling?" he asked the next day, catching her at the door before she could jog to the mines.

"Fine! How are you feeling?"

"Aren't you tired?"

"No. Are you tired?"

"When was the last time you ate?"

"Yesterday. When was the last time _you _ate?"

Gill frowned. "Shouldn't you be eating more?"

Angela frowned back. "What do you mean? I hardly ever have time to eat, but I do try to have a good meal every night. I used to cook for myself, but now I just buy Chase's dishes at the Inn. They're pretty good."

"Why don't you cook?"

"Well, I have more time to spend with my animals if I buy dinner rather than cook it. The sheep's wool sells better if I wash it often."

Gill looked from her bloodshot eyes to her drooping lips to her slumped shoulders. He had never heard her speak of profit before. It was unbecoming even with her melodic voice. "Maybe you should…stop working at the Town Hall. You should take some time to yourself. There's no need to overwork yourself, after all."

He had expected Angela to reply with some sort of naïve quip about the excess energy she had once seemed to possess, but much to his dismay tears came instead. Once slowly, and then gushing. She wiped at her eyes with the sleeves of her expensive new sweater and said, "Please don't fire me!"

"Huh? What are you…what?"

"I'm doing my very best! If you want me to work harder, I'll work harder!" she pleaded. "I'm trying to be a person you can admire as much as you admire Luna…I'm trying to work as hard as you two do. Please don't take that away from me. Please. I'll do more!"

"I…huh." Gill stared at her and knew that he should comfort her and knew that he should explain his worried feelings and knew that he should reach out and wipe the tears from her eyes himself, but he did nothing. He was rooted to the spot – he _was _the ground beneath his feet, tethered like a tree. Angela turned and fled from the spot, her striped hat slipping from her head and landing at his feet. He picked it up several minutes after she had left - after he finally lifted his roots - and balled it up in his fist. It was another chance to approach her, but another chance he passed up on. He too could be a person who didn't put enough effort into something that mattered to him.

Angela did not show up at the Town Hall the next morning, or the morning after that, or the morning after that, or any morning. Elli said nothing, but Gill could feel her disappointed eyes on him everywhere he moved. He kept Angela's hat in his drawer and often found himself opening that drawer to look at it. Ridiculous, really. It was ridiculous to spend money on something so stupid. He fingered the pompom on top of it that made her look so foolish. It was a good thing for her to spend her money on. It was ridiculous of him to think so. It looked lovely upon her. He had expected her to spend her wages on such a thing. He was glad she had done such a thing.

The rooms of the Town Hall that had initially been bursting with her mistakes and then bursting with the quickness of her work were now emptied of beauty and joy. They had been stripped of their atmosphere and replaced with a somber mood that followed Gill everywhere he went. He stood on the staircase and thought about how even after she had pledged to work hard, she had continued to trip on the third to last step every time. He had taken to waiting at the landing at closing time so he could catch her. He had always thought that he hated to wait upon her like that, but he thought now that he hated that she no longer needed him.

"Angela sold all of her animals back to Brownie Ranch, you know. Except for Blue. She still has Blue."

"Hmm."

Elli sighed. "It's quiet without Angela."

"…Yes. It is quiet."

"I never realized how quiet it was until she had come and then left," Elli told him.

Gill did not reply initially. He did not reply, in fact, for another hour. He stood, lost in thought, beside the staircase. "Neither did I," he told her when the clock struck closing time and nobody came to the staircase. "I didn't realize how empty this place was until she filled it up."

Elli rose to leave and then laughed when she opened the door. "It looks like she's taking Blue for a walk again," she announced. "Her and Luna both."

Gill waited until she had let herself out to cross the room and stand before the window. Angela was holding Blue's leash and walking at a glacial pace as the cow stopped and grazed the grass deadened beneath the weight of now a few inches of snow. So Luna took time off of work for frivolous things too. He found that he suddenly admired that. And so he admired Angela even more. He admired the farmer's philosophy. He admired her healthy, happy expression. He admired the raggedy jacket she wore and the light of her eyes. Even beside a fashionista, she looked lovely. She looked fun. She was doing her job, and having fun while doing it. Gill recalled that the only time he had ever had fun working at the Town Hall was when she was working nearby. Now he watched her have fun and thought of how empty the room was with her outside of it.

* * *

"What's…that?"

Blue looked at Gill and Gill looked at Blue. The cow seemed happy to graze in its pasture now that spring had come. It would be even happier to graze all throughout town when its owner inevitably took it on the first walk of the New Year. Gill stood before Angela and dropped an armful of white packets to the floor.

"Turnips."

"…Turnips?"

"Turnip seeds," Gill said. "Enough for the entire field. So, get your hoe and get started tilling. I'll help."

Angela shook her head. "Last spring you said you had never hated turnips so much in your life, and you told me I needed more variety in my crops. I don't think anyone wants turnips."

"I want turnips," Gill said. "So let's plant them. Let's plant just turnip seeds and then let's take Blue for a walk."

Angela picked up a packet of turnip seeds as if she needed proof that he wasn't lying to her. "Turnip seeds," she read. "Why are you doing this, Gill?"

"I thought you never did any work," he said. "But I was wrong. You work all day. Maybe you're not the most _efficient_ worker, and you don't make the largest profit by far, but you still work hard and I...I admire that. You don't have to do every odd job possible to make more money. You don't have to buy more animals or grow more crops. Just keep doing what you're doing, if it's what you want to be doing. And I'll help."

"It's not going to do anything for you, though," she said, shaking her head again. "It's pointless."

"It's not pointless. It'll be fun. That means it's not pointless, right?"

Angela looked at him and then began to cry again. First one tear, then more, then too many. She put her sleeves against her eyes and wailed.

"What is it?" Gill demanded, prying her hands from her eyes. "What did I say?"

"Nothing," she told him, sniffing hard. She smiled and said, "I'm just happy. I'm happy to hear you say that."

She pulled her hands free and then leaped towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Gill staggered backwards and rose his hands hesitantly before allowing them to settle on her back. "If you're happy, then I'm happy," he told her.

Happiness could not buy anything. Happiness often required a little laziness, a little idleness, a little immaturity, a little irresponsibility. Two negatives, however, made a positive. If he and Angela were lazy together, that meant they would profit. Happiness could not buy anything. It was bought with what Gill detested. It was bought with a little laziness. Everything came at a high price. Angela, however, was worth it.


End file.
